Sunday, January 9 : Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein]

In the Book of Revelation, the apostle John sees “a Lamb standing, a Lamb that had been slain.” (Rev 5:6)… On the banks of the Jordan, John the Baptist had called Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Then, the apostle John had understood this word, and now he understood the image. The one who previously had walked on the banks of the Jordan and who now had shown himself to him “wearing a white robe, with eyes that blazed like fire” and with the sword of the judge, he who is “the First and the Last” (Rev 1:13-17), had truly accomplished everything that the rites of the Old Covenant had sketched with symbols. When, on the holiest and most solemn day of the year, the high priest entered into the Holy of Holies, the place that was terribly holy because of the divine Presence, he had previously taken two rams: one on which to lay the sins of the people so that he would take them to the desert, the other so that his blood would be sprinkled on the tent and the ark of the covenant (Lev 16). He was the sacrifice that was offered for the sin of the people… Then the high priest sacrificed a burnt offering for himself and for all the people and burned all the remains of the sacrifice of reconciliation… That day of reconciliation was a solemn and holy day… But what had brought about the reconciliation? It was not the blood of the sacrificed animals, nor was it the high priest who was a descendant of Aaron, as Saint Paul said in his letter to the Hebrews (chapter 8-9). It was the ultimate sacrifice of reconciliation, the one that was prefigured in all the sacrifices prescribed by the Law, and this was the “high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Ps 110:4)… He was also the true paschal Lamb because of whom the exterminating angel passed by the houses of the Hebrews when he struck the Egyptians (Ex 12:23). The Lord himself let his disciples understand this when he ate the paschal lamb with them for the last time and then gave himself to them as their food.

maronite readings – rosary,team